With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don't think it's for the better....

Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magic training—especially as she's been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies....

I really have enjoyed this series so far. This is the second in the Study series (I reviewed the first Poison Study here). It’s interesting because I really do enjoy them and hope to continue on with the series, but neither has made it to a 4 star rating in my brain. Poison Study I gave 3 1/2 stars and I’m giving Magic Study just 3. Here’s why:

I really like Yelena. She’s relatable despite having lived through a ton of things that I cannot even begin to imagine. But I enjoy her voice and I enjoy following her story.

Despite that, this book almost lacked plot for me. What I thought was a subplot about a third of the way into the book turned out to be practically the entire plot. And that just kind of confused me. The basic premise is that Yelena moves to Sitia, where magic abounds, to be taught to control her magic. So she starts taking classes and things and not until well into the book does the real plot happen. I think a lot of things are being set up to happen in later books, which is good. But this book didn’t feel completely together for me.

And then there was almost a subplot within that subplot/main plot. Just randomly placed in there and it didn’t get a very satisfying resolution. Sure it was smaller compared to the other events of the book, but I didn’t feel satisfied with what was happening because it came so quickly and then it was over so quickly. I’m being so vague trying to avoid spoilers so I don’t know if any of this is even making sense.

Those were my two problems with the book. But overall, I really do enjoy reading about Yelena and Valek and this world that Maria Snyder created and I’m excited to continue because there seem to be quite a few books in this world!